Just days after suffering its first loss of the season, Liverpool looks poised to get some good news as Fernando Torres appears set to return from the hamstring injury that forced him to miss five matches.
Torres could be in the lineup for Liverpool on Tuesday, when the Reds face Torres’ former team, Atletico Madrid. The teams tied in their last Champions League match.
Liverpool lost to Tottenham on Saturday, 2-1, to drop back into a tie for first place in the English Premier League with Chelsea, which it beat a little more than a week ago.
Here are some other news stories to get your day started:
Chelsea begins financial belt-tightening
So much for Chelsea having a bottomless supply of cash.
The London club has fired 15 scouts and reports are suggesting that manager Luiz Felipe Scolari won’t be given any new funds to acquire players in the winter transfer period.
The news isn’t a complete surprise considering the various reports that have Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich taking a major financial hit due to the recent international economic crisis.
In other words, if you were expecting some big-name signings in January, think again.
Guatemala hires new coach
The Guatemalan national team only has one more match left in its seemingly doomed World Cup qualifying process and now it has the coach who will guide it in that last qualifier against the United States. Benjamin Monterroso was hired on Friday to replace fired head coach Ramon Maradiaga, marking Monterroso’s third stint as Guatemala’s national team head coach.
Guatemala needs a win against the United States on Nov. 19, along with a Trinidad & Tobago loss to Cuba, in order to qualify for the Hexagonal round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.
These are just some of the stories being discussed on this Monday morning. Please feel free to share your thoughts on these, and any other stories from this morning, in the comments section below.
You all need to remember that the initial spending spree by Abramovich ended three seasons ago. They have been within 5-6 million pounds of neutral in the transfer market over the last three seasons. The big splash of cash only served to put them on level footing with the other EPL powers. Liverpool has been the biggest spender in the last 4 seasons and ManU has been throwing cash around for decades and nobody ever whined when they won 10 of 14 titles.
Yeah, JB, but that success was based on a mountain of unsustainable debt accumulated by former chairman Ken Bates, who was bailed out by Abramovich, while I think the Lincoln City comparisons are ridiculous (but funny), they wouldn’t be close to the perennial contender that they have been transformed into, without their petro-benefator…
Oh Snap, Manny!!! LOL…don’t tell that to Steve Cohen, although you aren’t all that far off.
Chelsea was still a fairly large club before Roman Abramovich took over. They were a Champions League participant in 2002, won the FA Cup twice in a 5 year span, and had a number of other high profile appearances in trophy games.
CAM, without Roman they are more like Lincoln City, lol.
without roman, chelsea is west ham
Since this was deleted:
Hunter Freeman has officially joined IK Start in Norway.
http://ikstart.no/default.aspx?m=3
WAAAAAHHHHHH I lost a ton of cash but I’m still the second richest man in Russia WAAAAAAHHHHHH.
You Chelsea blowhards better be careful. You love to talk smack but without Roman being able to buy his next Premiership trophy you guys are in trouble.
dry sheets
ice cream
jelly beans
3 of my favorite things
Chelsea doesn’t need new players in the Winter transfer window. All it needs is to keep playing well while guys like Ballack, Drogba, Ashley Cole and Ricky Carvalho get healthy. Sure, they lost to Liverpool a week ago, but they are really putting the beatdown on these mediocre sides even with a depleted lineup.